Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Childlike Faith

Children amaze me. They believe in nearly anything, as long as the person telling them is someone that they trust. I remember before I entered kindergarten I honestly believed that Santa Claus squeezed through the mail slot on Christmas Eve to deliver gifts (we didn't have a chimney), that it was a good idea (at the time) to write my name in purple crayon on the wall in the hallway, that the oil islands off of Long Beach were really Hawaii (see picture above), and that my daddy could fix anything.

With these beliefs came grand expectations: I could peek out the mail slot in search of Santa; mom would treasure my artwork; the world was smaller than it really is; and daddy could make all things good as new again. I believed in all these things because I had complete faith and trust in the people who loved me, an unwavering faith that they would never do anything to harm me.

The faith of a child.

But then I grew older. I made discoveries about the world around me. Things weren't as I once believed. People don't fit through the mail slot. Crayon marks belong on paper (inside the lines), not on walls. Luaus are not common on the oil islands. And there are some things that are beyond repair and have to be thrown away.

Often times when we first encounter Jesus we are no longer in a state of wide-eyed wonder of a child. Yet there is something about this Son of God that makes us want to know more about him.

It's been said that children are a reflection of their parents. And Jesus is no exception. God has chosen reveal Himself through His words and actions, and Jesus is God's perfect self-revelation to us. By studying the words and actions of Jesus, we learn that God is faithful to keep His promises and is worthy of our trust. And our response to this is "faith."

Jesus holds children in very high esteem. He even tells us that unless we change and become like little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of heaven. When we come back to the place where we can trust Jesus with a childlike faith we will receive more blessings than what will fit in any mailbox, realize that our names are engraved on the palm of God's hand, stand in awe of the beauty of the vast universe that God created, and have full access to our Father in heaven, who truly does make all things new.